lib·er·tar·i·an
n.
1. One who advocates maximizing individual rights and minimizing the role of the state.
2. One who believes in free will.

Thursday, August 31, 2006

ulf henricsson and speculative prejudgments

ulf henricsson the out going (today, 31st, is his last day) head of sri lanka monitoring mission (slmm) yesterday issued a statement under his own name. that statement is yet to appear in slmm website. media should be careful not to confuse his personal statements with the usual slmm press releases. in it he makes a speculative judgment that unspecified members of sri lankan 'security forces' killed the 17 aid workers of acf in muttur. the formal investigation of those killings is yet to conclude.

Firstly, the SLMM cannot find the reasons for the restrictions of movements into the said areas especially in above-mentioned circumstances acceptable, thereby strongly indicating the GoSL's [government of Sri Lanka's] eagerness to conceal the matter from the SLMM....

Taking into consideration the fact that the security forces had been present in Muttur at the time of the incident it appears highly unlikely to blame other groups for the killing....

The head of SLMM has also had confidential conversations with highly reliable sources regarding the party who most likely has been responsible for the act. The views have not proved contradictory and the security forces of Sri Lanka are widely and consistently deemed to be responsible for the incident.....

in fact it is because there was fighting going on (terrorists having captured parts of muttur) that people were not allowed into muttur. in fact it is on friday august 4th that several peaceniks issued statments calling for a halt to hostilities knowing that ltte is lossing ground. also on 4th when acf was last in contact with those killed it was informed that ltte was in control of the area they were in. btw time of death is is yet to be established. that ulf henricsson's speculative prejudgment does not refer to any postmortem report to establish that and assume that deaths took place in 4th says a lot about his sloppiness. 15 bodies were discoveredby consortium of humanitarian agencies (cha, a group that includes the ltte front, tamils rehabilitation organization (tro) as a full member) on sunday the 6th. curiously they failed to notice 2 more bodies which were discovered only 2 days later near by. even their report indicate that there wasn't any attempt at cover up by security forcesthen in control of muttur which was mostly uninhabited at that time.

that henricsson cites 'confidential conversations' with unnamed sources as 'highly reliable' evidence is in itself enough to destroy the credibility of his statement. if he is unable to reveal his sources and the evidence to the investigation and the public he should not speculate in public too.

in other words the cited evidence in fact makes the henricsson's prejudgment unsustainable. this is made all the more ironic by the fact slmm under him has refused/delayed to list ltte's suicide bombings as ceasefire violations because there is no conclusive evidence to implicate ltte (as if there are others who use suicide bombers). double standards anyone?

in addition he has not considered several inconsistencies in the revealed details about these killings.

there is continuing confusion as to where exactly the dead bodies were found and how they were shot (from behind or front or whether they were actually shot at all, but died from a bomb explosion). to clear that forensics and examination of witnesses is required.

then there was the fact that during the 2 or more days that elapsed before 2 extra bodies were found, acf bosses in sri lanka in their numerous media appearances or in any other occasion (to police for instance) did not reveal the fact 2 aid workers were missing (they always referred to 15 aid workers only). acf staff also had trouble identifying all the bodies. one is left with the impression that acf's bosses did not know who or how many were working for them in muttur.

it is also not clear why acf staff stayed behind in their offices when almost whole of muttur left the town or took refuge in safe places like religious compounds, when ltte attacked the town. relatives say they were instructed stay by ltte (unlike most others who were told to leave by ltte. why?), while acf says they were instructed to stay by their bosses (why?).

all that leaves much work for the investigation, jumping to stupid prejudgments is simply not the way to go.

as recent terrorist arrests in united states and canada made clear, ltte is prepared to expend huge amounts as bribes to get its way with foreign governments. so may be it is time we did some speculative prejudging about ulf henricsson's assets. or may be it is best that we leave that to investigators instead of following him to the gutter.

btw here is government's response to this prejudgement.-still too damn busy to reply to comments. sorry. but hopefully not for long.

As usual an excellent post sittingnut! My thoughts exactly. Isn't it funny how Ulf put this out just before he leaves the country? I find it amusing how the SLMM was going on and on about a "third force" whenever the LTTE was culpable and suddenly they find it so easy to point their finger at the government WITH ABSOLUTELY NO EVIDENCE WHATSOEVER.

Stockholm Syndrome. Thats got to be it. They came in to be impartial and then they fell for the romantic notion of 'rebels' (refer an earlier post of mine 'Rebels vs Terrorists'. Maybe the 'love' was helped along with the aid of money and or sex. God only knows. He knows his days of influence has come to an end and thought to go out with a 'bang' just to let his pussy buddies know that he is not going coz he wants to, and that he wants to continue helping them. Or maybe, the poor chap is being blackmailed by the LTTE - they might have caught him in a compromising position with a Tiger (does that fall under bestiality?). LOL.

LTTE may have found their 'friend' a little too late. For instance - all the things you point out to started after the EU Ban and LTTE asking them to leave. Ulf I believe at first mentioned sadness at EU action and only later did he 'slam' them. So, methinks LTTE kinda shot themselves in the foot, again. Once they made the request they couldn't back out and 'save face', but they did extend the deadline.

Ulf took it upon himself to represent GOSL when he is neither an employee of or a citizen of SL. He has shown himself to be presumptuous in many things. He has shown his lack of experience with diplomatic etiquette. Thank the LTTE for having shown him the door.

Sorry if the comment doesn't make much sense or rambles on. But seriously, are you embedded with the Army or something? (Stupid question - obviously no need to answer), but if it is the case or it is something similar - best of luck to you machang and be safe. Don't forget to duck.

SLMM have always been biased against the SL Govt. i say chase them all out - we are in the middle of a war - a war to preserve our country. We do not need these meddling peaceniks who are all 'Tigers' in disguise!

Ulf Henriccson was ALWAYS pro LTTE and anti-government. His statement was an attempt to be a premadonna and pay the government out for his retarded attempt to open the Mavilaru sluice gates which was halted due to bombardments.